My McDonalds is way cool!!

Yeah ... we have a waterfall inside our McDonalds!! That's my roommate Allison and we are just eatin some dinner before we go to the night show at the polynesian culture center. But I couldn't pass up this picture! Just by looking at the background you would never know where we are! They also have rice on the menu, oh and yummy spam!!

My trip to Chicago

Brrrrr!!! That was my first reaction being back in Chicago!! I went to surprise my dad for his
50th birthday! It was so good to see all the family and be in some cooler weather again. Being there helped it to feel a lot more like winter and that the Christmas season is definitely here. Not many people can afford to decorate in Hawaii so you see maybe one strand of lights on the homes here and of course NO snow. Still going to the beach in December. Just isn't the same. Although it has cooled down here a whole lot. I couldn't even get in the water the other day. Too cold!! I go back home to Denver in a week and I can hardly wait! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and seeing more snow!

My Dad's 50th Birthday!!

New Job

It seems like forever since I have posted anything new!! Let's see...
I started a new job a week ago Monday. I work in the accounting office now in our food services department. YEAH... for air conditioning! It's a lot to learn but I do like it and I love the new people I am meeting and working with.
I had a pretty good Thanksgiving. Nothing to complain about really. Who gets to say they got to go to the beach on Thanksgiving?!?! It was such a beautiful day so of course I couldn't pass that up. I was only missing one thing that day. My family of course!! Hope you all had lots of good turkey and a happy day!
I'm excited for Christmas! I will be going home for 2 weeks!! I can hardly wait!!

Catching the bus...

I have to say my time here spent on the bus has been quite an experience for me. I will be bringing home a lot of my stories from the times I have to ride the bus. Which is pretty often considering I enjoy getting out and away and taking off on a little adventures on the island. But never have I felt unsafe or afraid of what could happen to me, until the other night that is. My roommate and I had decided to go see a movie at the mall. The mall is in a town called Kaneohe (pronounced, connie-oh-hey) which is about a 45 minute bus ride. I knew the movie started at 7 and that it was only going to be bout 2 hours long. So we could easily catch the 9:41 bus home. If we did not make this one the next one was not coming until "approximately" 10:56. First off... never expect the buses to arrive or take off on time here. They kind of come and go as they please and if they don't feel like waiting they won't. Or if they have sped thru their whole ride it's too bad you were not there 25 minutes early to catch it. You now have to wait another 30 to 60 minutes to catch the next one. So there we were waiting for the bus, as we usually are on our outings, and at 10:01 still no bus. About 10 after I think it showed up. WHEW!!! I was getting worried. We both had to be up early the next day for work and school. This was going to be a long night. So we hop on the bus to be greeted by our bus driver who seemed to be pretty nice. (don't get that very often here either) As we begin our ride home we realize... oh no... she's a tapper. Meaning she literally taps her foot on the dang gas pedal, fast-slow-fast-slow. As if she were listening to music and tapping to the beat. We have had a few bus drivers like this and have now given them the nickname TAPPER. So we are off, tapping our 45 minute bus ride home. Mind you it is raining on this night also. The road we take back home is along the shore of the ocean and during the day it is a beautiful view. But at night, with a tapper and rain, and your bus starts to feel like it's fish tailing... you don't want to be anywhere near the ocean. Yea, so I'm thinking... man this could be an interesting way to die... bus driving into the ocean, right?!?! I was just not ready for this. So I put my music up real loud on my headphones cover my eyes with my hood from my jacket and just pretend I'm somewhere else. Suddenly the bus stops, and not at one of the bus route stops. The bus driver runs off the bus. I look at my roommate and ask her... "so do you think her shift is over?" We could not help but just sit there and laugh and wonder... will one of us have to try to drive this bus home? Finally she comes back on, apparently she had to use the restroom. I turned my music back up and covered my eyes again until I could faintly here the next stop being announced was the Polynesian Culture Center which is only bout 2 minutes from my stop to get off. I think we finally made it home about 11pm that night. Safe and unharmed, physically anyway. So that's it... that's all my story for you today... crazy bus rides!!

I saw my first TURTLE!!

Today I saw my first turtle in the ocean!! I have to say it was pretty amazing. We were out playing in the water and not maybe 15 feet from us I could see something bobbing its head out of the water in the wave. We then realized it was a turtle. He was sooo big!!

It is a Hawaiin legend that if you see a turlte it brings good luck!! We kept trying to get closer to him but then I would freak myself out because where there is one big animal in the ocean I'm sure there are more!! But it was almost like he was watching us. He would go down for awhile and then come back up to the surface and hang out in the waves. It was pretty cool!!

What else is there to do, right?!?!

As you can see there are many nights when Kristen and I have to entertain ourselves. Our town consists of a grocery store, taco bell, subway, an ice cream shop, and a bank. When it's raining you are pretty much stuck to hanging out in your room. But we have found ways to still party like rockstars!! Thank goodness we have brought at least 5 outfits with us so we could have our supermodel documentary hour! Yes, we were inspired by the Superstar! We took over 200 pictures that night! I was laughing so hard!! I'm sure our roommates were wondering what we were doing. We had lots of fun though! Hope everyone is well back on the mainland! Miss you guys!!

We can never take anything serious!!!

Superstar documentary hour!

My weekend-o-fun!!

We did so much this weekend! On friday night they held an American Idol at the University only called it, BYUH Idol. My roommate and I called it international idol. Most of the performers were from different countries singing in english with heavy accents. Not so good. Then all the mainland kids just really weren't that good at all. The only one we really liked was this guy from Haiti and he sang a song he wrote in his own language. But I don't know if you could call it singing because it was more like a rap song. It was funny though. Saturday we went to Hanauma Bay and did snorkeling in the morning. It was so much fun. We saw lots of pretty fish. My favorite was the black and white polka dotted puffer fish. They were just babies too and so cute. We saw a big parrot fish about 2 feet long and he kept getting close to us. I had to get up and out. Kind of scared me. I was hoping we could have seen a turtle. No such luck. The rest of the day was spent running errands. Sunday we went to Pearl Harbor. It was pretty amazing. It was hard to believe that something like that ever did happen. I think if ever anyone has the chance to see it they should definitely make the trip out. Well here is to more exciting weekends!! CHEERS!!

Superstar!!!

How we entertain ourselves! Don't ask!!

Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay

Pearl Harbor

Camera fun!!

Singing in the Rain

My story for the day is this -
Kristen and I decided to walk down to get some dinner. It's only about a 15 minute walk. So we are walking and a nice misty rain begins. Of all days to be wearing a white tshirt right? So we start booking it to the store so we don't get the big down pour. We make it with slightly wet clothing. It only lasted maybe 3 minutes. So we get our food and start to head back home. I keep thinking... man it's so warm and humid now. This walk home is going to stink big time. When all of a sudden HUGE downpour. We run to the nearest tree we can find. Because you can do that here since there is no lightening. So yes the two of us crouched behind one tree trying not get soaking wet. Oh but we still did. It was great. I was just trying to keep the front of me dry with the white shirt and all. The rain here gives you no chance at all to run for cover, one minute it's sunshine and the next downpouring like theres no tomorrow. My suggestion... just don't ever plan on wearing white!!

Crab Hunt

Kristen and I had our very first experience of night fishing for crabs! We had so much fun. Our neighbors wanted to take us. We left the house about 9pm. We were told the water would only be ankle deep because you stay close to the rocks. Little did I know that the waves would be higher this night and up to my bum. The crabs we were looking for were the same color as the rock we were looking on. So we had flashlights and a garden glove. Once we spotted one we were to grab them but be careful not to be grabbed ourselves. I think I did more laughing then crab hunting.

Dave and Paul were spearing a little bit deeper in the water and speared a stick fish. Which Kristen calls a fish stick. We moved on to another beach about 45 minutes later. Here as soon as we reached the water we saw an eel in the water right up close to shore. Scared me so much that I could hardly get into the water this time around. We also saw a few blue bubble jelly fish. Since Kristen was just stung by one a few days ago and Mips just got stung that very night... I didn't go into the water much looking for crabs. Pretty much stayed on shore and relaxed on the beach in the moonlight. It was so bright! The eel scared me enough. I'll have to be more courageous next time. But for my first time night fishing I thought I did pretty good. I would just rather know if something is coming up from behind me or in front of me too for that matter. That big vast ocean is scary nary at night. But I so would go again. We had a really good time and they caught plenty of crab!

Goin on a crab hunt!

My Hump my hump... my lucky lady lumps... check it out!!

They don't call them bumps or dips here... too funny, who knew?

Hawaiian Legend

There is a Hawaiian legend that the ancestors come out at night and walk the beaches. They stack these rocks up at and are taken down during the day. You see them all the time driving along the coast.

Life's a beach!!

Bummed... but not really!!

So we were not able to go snorkeling on saturday. It was raining all the dang day. But we were able to get out and drive the town and take pictures! We will have to definitely rent a car more often so we can hit the city more easily. We had so much fun!! There are so many places to see and so many things to do!! Friday night we celebrated Kristens birthday and just drove to this small town called Haleiwa and had pizza. It was Yummy. Saturday we took a drive around the island. We stopped in Kaneohe about 45 minutes from where I live and we stopped at the mall. Right outside the mall there is a truck that makes these little doughnut things called Malasadas. We stop there everytime we go into the town. YUP... it's our favorite. Then from there we drove to Nuuanu Pali State Park. It's just an overlook area to look out over the city. It was so windy and a little drizzly out but still so pretty. From there we drove to Punchbowl National Cemetery. Actually we got lost trying to find it and drove around the city for almost an hour. We went thru chinatown about 15 times before we finally found it. It was really pretty once we found it though. After that we drove thru Waikiki and along the beach. Definitely a lot going on there it was so busy and crowded. Very touristry. I'm glad I live where I do. We drove thru a really rich area of homes. They were so beautiful we found a couple for sale and prices were about 3.5 million dollars. It was crazy!! it was fun checking out the city. There is so much to see here. I will definitely be posting more pictures soon!! Until next time...

Our day out and about!

Kristen's Birthday!!

Orange Cone day... you'll wish you had one too!!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Water logged!... oh and sand too...

Gotta love it. Going to the beach every day!! Today is the first time I think I'm starting to feel the affects of it all. Right now even as I'm typing this I feel myself being rocked back and forth. I'm ready to go again!! I know I may sound like a beach bum in all of my writings, but I do work. I started working at BYU's cafeteria. Yup I help to feed all those students. Actually I do most of the dishes and some serving. It's a job and it pays the bills and gets me places!! I like the fact that I am still able to go to the beach every single day of my life while I am here. Worked out perfectly!! Well this weekend my roommate and I have decided to rent a car and drive down to Waikiki. We are going to go snorkeling and hit some sites this weekend. I'm pretty excited!! I will post pictures as soon as I have them!!

POUNDED!!..... twice

So I'm thinking that I'm so good at body surfing right. Yesterday at the beach we are doing our norm of chillin in the water and trying to catch the big waves. We had brought our boogie boards down and were floating and not even paying attention. HUGE wave came up totally out of nowhere! TOO BIG to jump so yes, slammed right into us. I went down. When I say I went down I mean into the sand and swirled around and tossed with the current of the wave. Boogie board shot straight up into the air. BAM... I was a gonner! I finally get up and get situated again. One thing you have to understand when you come to hit the waves, buy the best dang swimsuit you possibly can. The wave seems to rip mine right off me every time I get slammed. Yeah, its great I tell ya. So back in I go to shoot for another and I see my roommate but right behind her is a big wave coming over her head..... I try to move as quickly as I can but before I knew it, it had me again. I was trying not to cry over my laughter. I couldn't believe twice in a row I was slammed into the beach! Don't get me wrong... it does hurt. But it's the best DAMN hurt in the world.

Birds of paradise

The flower behind me is one of my favorites!!

Hairspray...

Yesterday took a trip to the mall. It's about a 45 minute bus ride into the town of Kaneohe. It's a beautiful ride along the north shore coast. It was kind of nice feeling like I was in civilazation with the mall. We saw the movie Hairspray and I thought it was pretty funny!

Here's the funny story for the day. First off... it gets so hot here that usually when I get home from walking around town I change into my nightgown. So today was definitely one of those days. Second our washer and dryer are outside and in the front yard. My roommate and I had some time today to get some laundry done. So here we are walking down in our nightgowns going to put our laundry in. As we walked back to the door we realized we locked ourselves out!!! IT WAS HOT... I tell you!! Well we remembered we had our bathing suits and towels drying on the clothes line in the backyard. So we changed in the garage, thinking we will just go to the beach till someone gets home to let us in. Then we saw there was a ladder back by the shed. So my roommate being the brave one that she is climbed to the roof and thru our sliding glass door to unlock our front door. I'm sure all the neighbors were watching and got the best show of their lives today. 2 white girls in their bathing suits trying to break into their own apartment! We definitely hit the beach after that... just to cool off!!

My first bus ride to WalMart

Well yesterday I had my first bus ride down to WalMart. They have conveniently called the transit system here "TheBus". Imagine that. LOL. We took off about 7am in the morning and finally arrived 2 hours later. My roommate and I were lucky enough to sit right behind a woman that took a shower in her perfume before she graced us with her presence on "the bus". I thought I was literally going to throw up, it was so overwhelming. WalMart was our day-o-fun. Bought my first boogie board yesterday and a TV tray to eat on since we don't have a kitchen. Yes this was very exciting for me! The ride home was interesting to say the least. The bus gets very crowded during the day and we were able to get plenty of people watching in. It was great. Went to the beach last night and hit some bigger waves. The biggest I have seen yet. I have mastered body surfing and now moving on to the boogie board. Hoping to one day learn how to surf. Although... still a little afraid of those man eating sharks!! There is an island about a 1/2 mile or so off the shore of our beach where the tiger sharks breed. We were talking to friends last night and just found out that the sharks come up to shore after dark. Yea, I don't think I will be going moonlight swimming EVER!!

Hawaiian fried lobster....

Yep should have tanned before I got here! I am SO fried! My eyes were swollen shut today when I woke up! Should have brought that damn sunscreen!! OUCH!! No pain, no gain for a good tan in Hawaii!!

Aloha from the big H!

Aloha everyone! Well here I am in Hawaii on the island of Oahu! Still can't believe it myself. I actually live in paradise!! I have had my taste of pineapple, the ocean, the humidity, the people and I am loving every minute of it. Wishing you all could be here to experience it with me!